Voting in all seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital began this morning amid tight security arrangements.

The polling in the national capital is being held in the sixth and penultimate phase of the Lok Sabha polls.

The voting commenced at 7 am. There are a total of 13,637 polling stations and the number of candidates contesting in the seven Lok Sabha constituencies is 162.

Over 1.52 crore electorate are eligible to cast their vote in Delhi.

“As per Electoral Roll Data, there are a total of 1,52,01,936 electors,” election officials said.

Polling in Delhi is being held in a single phase on all seven Lok Sabha seats in a close contest between the BJP and the Opposition INDIA bloc, comprising the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress.

The AAP and Congress are contesting the seven seats in alliance in the national capital, with the AAP contesting four and the Congress three seats. The seven parliamentary constituencies are Chandni Chowk, East Delhi, New Delhi, North East Delhi, North West Delhi, South Delhi, and West Delhi.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar; Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri along with his wife Lakshmi Puri; BJP candidate from East Delhi Lok Sabha seat, Harsh Malhotra and BJP Lok Sabha candidate from New Delhi, Bansuri Swaraj were among the early voters.

They all cast their votes soon after the polling commenced in Delhi.

Talking to reporters, Union Minister Puri said, “Come out in large numbers and vote. Political consciousness is very high in India. Shed your apathy…The issues are very clear, the issues are about development. But the issues that the opposition is framing, they try to create a false narrative in the process they score self-goals…They have lost it…We will have a hattrick in Delhi….”

BJP candidate Swaraj urged the voters to participate in the democratic process. “It is the mega festival of democracy today. I want to appeal to the people to come out and cast their votes,” she said.

Earlier, she offered prayers at Jhandewalan temple before casting her vote. “I have come here to take blessings from Jhandewali Mata and then I will also cast my vote,” she said.

Key candidates contesting the polls from the BJP are Manoj Tiwari (North East Delhi), Bansuri Swaraj (New Delhi); Ramvir Singh Bidhuri (South Delhi) while J P Agarwal (Chandni Chowk) and Kanhaiya Kumar (North East Delhi) are contesting on Congress tickets. Another prominent candidate is senior AAP leader Somnath Bharti (New Delhi).

Delhi Metro train services on all lines commenced at 4 am from all terminal stations on the day of the Lok Sabha polls in the national capital.

Counting of votes will take place on June 4.